Sheffield United vs Hull City – Preview | OneFootball

Sheffield United host Hull City on Friday evening at Bramall Lane as the Blades look to take advantage to go top of the Championship and put the pressure on the chasing pack once again this weekend.

The Blades have won three league games on the bounce, more recently coming from behind to defeat the ten-men of Swansea City in midweek. This game saw Rhian Brewster return to the scoresheet, Harrison Burrows grabbing his third goal in two matches, and Ben Brereton Diaz made his second debut for the club.

Hull City come into this game in inconsistent form. After scoring two late goals to salvage a point at home against Leeds United, the Tigers have since defeated Millwall and then lost to Queens Park Rangers.

Transfer Business

Ruben Selles has welcomed a multitude of signings this month as the club strives to climb out of the bottom three. Hull have brought in Championship veteran Matt Crooks from Real Salt Lake, forwards Joe Gelhart on loan from Leeds and Kyle Joseph from Blackpool, and lastly another veteran in Nordin Amrabat from AEK Athens.

Crooks is a towering powerful midfielder that is capable of playing as a box-to-box player in a three or as an attacking midfielder, where he can make runs beyond the forward line and engage the opposition defence.

Coming into this game, Gelhart should be full of confidence after netting his first goal for the club in the 2-1 loss against QPR. The young forward has plenty of pace and decent link-up play, but there are doubts over his finishing ability even despite scoring recently.

Kyle Joseph is a player that has shown flashes of brilliance in League One for Blackpool over the last couple of years. He plays with great energy, he’s physical and has good pace. The issue is his end product and technical skills when put under pressure, and I struggle to see how he could help keep Hull up.

37-year-old Nordin Amrabat is a bit of a head-scratching move considering he is moving from a team that plays in the UEFA Conference League this season. In fact, he has even scored in that competition this term. Amrabat is definitely not the player he once was but he still has very good vision and a good passing range.

Team News

Chris Wilder will be delighted to have Vinicius Souza and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi back in contention for Friday night’s game. Unfortunately though, he will be with the excellent Gustavo Hamer after he picked up his tenth booking of the season, so he will now serve a two-match ban. Tom Davies will also likely miss this game, but he could be back next week.

Hull have had injury issues to contend with for most of this season and the injury list hasn’t shrunk for this game as Charlie Hughes, Lewie Coyle, Kasey Palmer, Mohamed Belloumi, Liam Millar and Ryan Longman are all set to miss out for the trip to Bramall Lane.

Sheffield United’s Star Player For This Game

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – MAY 04: Ben Brereton Diaz of Sheffield United runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest at Bramall Lane on May 04, 2024 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Friday night will probably see Ben Brereton Diaz make his first start for the Blades since his recent loan move from Southampton. The versatile forward was given minutes off the bench in United’s 2-1 win at Swansea City on Tuesday, and he looked bright considering he has barely kicked a ball this season.

I fully expect the Chilean to destroy Cody Drameh, a right-back who I just simply don’t rate at all. Brereton Diaz is much quicker than him, stronger than him, and he should be able to take him on at will. In Drameh’s previous game he was dribbled past three times, and this is something he’s been very average at all season. While he ranks in the 98th percentile for tackles, he only ranks in the 51st percentile for dribblers tackled success rate, per FBref.

In contrast, during Brereton Diaz’s first loan spell with the Blades he ranked in the 70th percentile for shot-creating actions via take-on, and 74th percentile for goal-creating actions via take-on (compared to every other Premier League forward last season).

Hull City’s Star Player For This Game

In order for Hull City to come to Bramall Lane and upset Sheffield United, they’re going to have win the midfield battle, and not only create chances against a solid defence, but they’re going to have to take them when they get them, because that’s been a challenge for the opposition against the Blades all season.

One man that can help with that is Gustavo Puerta. The midfielder on loan from Bayer Leverkusen has registered 15 successful duels and five successful tackles in the last three games, highlighting his combative nature. But, from an attacking viewpoint, which is his main strength, he has registered a total of nine key passes and two big chances created in his last three league games. The young Columbian has all the tools to hurt any side in this division

My Prediction

Even without Gustavo Hamer for this game, the Blades should have more than enough to see off a struggling Hull City team that seem destined for relegation. In all honesty, good. They had a brilliant young English manager in Liam Rosenior, but they sacked him for barely missing out on the top six last season, even despite their injuries to key players such as Liam Delap and Jaden Philogene in the winter period.

This season, the away side have the third-worst conversion rate in the league (8.26%), per Opta. In contrast, the Blades have the second-best defensive conversion rate in the Championship, so it could be a long night for Hull.

To add, despite not giving up many shots via fast-break situations, they are one of the worst Championship teams in that regard when it comes to conceding from fast-breaks. Considering Sheffield United will likely start with two, if not all three of: Brereton Diaz, Tyrese Campbell and Rhian Brewster, United’s pacey front line could be the difference maker in the game.

I am going for a 2-0 Sheffield United victory under the floodlights at Bramall Lane to make it four league wins on the bounce.